Where those associated with Western films from around the world are laid to rest.

Sunday, June 16, 2019

RIP sean McCann

Canadian actor Sean McCann dies at 83

The Star

By Jacob Lorinc, Emma Sandri

June 15, 2019

Sean McCann, an award-winning actor known for his role on
the Canadian TV series Night Heat, died on Thursday. He was 83.

A prolific character actor, McCann performed in hundreds
of productions, ranging from a Canadian politician in The King Chronicle (1988)
to an animated bear in TV series Little Bear (1995-2003).

He was also known for his roles in films such as Tommy
Boy (1995), Chicago (2002), Naked Lunch (1991) and Miracle (2004). McCann
played supporting roles in films with big names such as Meryl Streep in ...
First Do No Harm (1997) and Nick Nolte in Affliction (1997).

McCann was born in Windsor, Ont. in 1935, the son of Alta
Tobin and Jack McCann, and had seven siblings. He studied to become a priest at
St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ont. before turning to acting in the 1960s.

In a Star article from 2002, he recalled his early days
in theatre, working as the spotlight operator at the Covent Garden Opera House
in London, England during a premiere attended by Queen Elizabeth and Prince
Philip. A self-styled mischief-maker, McCann recalled calling out to Prince
Philip’s limousine after the show.

“I yelled, ‘Up the republic!’ ...(and) before I knew it,
I was being frisked and questioned,” he said.

Later in his acting career, he said, his Canadian
patriotism led him to turn down some roles in American TV shows and movies.

“They made me an offer ... and it’s out the window,”
McCann said of a 2002 TV series starring Rob Morrow. “And damn it, I could’ve
used the money!”

But he performed in dozens of Canadian films and TV
shows, and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Gemini Award for
Best Guest Actor in a Series for Power Play (1998-2000) and the Earle Grey
Award for his lifetime achievement in television.

Beyond acting, McCann was also a poet, a political candidate
and a baseball scout.

An avid baseball fan since he was young, he began as an
amateur associate scout for the Toronto Blue Jays in the late 1990s, and sat on
the board of directors for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I’ve got a background in baseball,” he explained to
Mississauga.com in 2008. “It (scouting) started as a hobby for me, but I’ve
coached baseball in the past.”

A self-described “political junkie” who often sought out
the roles of Canadian politicians, like William Lyon Mackenzie King in The King
Chronicle, McCann ventured briefly into real-life politics when he ran for the
Liberals against Progressive Conservative MPP Roy McMurtry in 1979.

John Dadosky, a professor of theology and philosophy at
the University of Toronto’s Regis College, said he developed a friendship with
McCann more than 20 years ago due to their common interest in religion.

“He had an insatiable intellectual curiosity for
philosophy and theology,” said Dadosky. “This deep interest was something not
well known about Sean. I will miss our conversations.”

A funeral mass will be held on Monday at the Blessed
Sacrament Parish, 24 Cheritan Ave., in Toronto.

About Me

Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1946 I have a BA degree in American History from Cal St. Northridge. I've been researching the American West and western films since the early 1980s and visiting filming sites in Spain and the U.S.A. Elected a member of the Spaghetti Western Hall of Fame 2010.